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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

There are some books that I know I will never forget, because they have made an enormous impact on me. The Feast of the Goat is one of those books. It is a novel about a real-life cruel regime that ruled the Dominican Republic from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Thanks to the reach of the internet, platform companies are everywhere nowadays. These are companies with monopolistic characteristics thanks to their network effects (e.g. Uber, Google Search, iOS, Facebook etc.). Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy is all about discussing how to build them, what to avoid, and how to think about them.

Karsan Value Funds (KVF) is a value-oriented fund, as described here. Due to securities regulations, the fund is not open to the public at this time. Should that change in the future, there will be an announcement on this site.

Friday, December 28, 2018

How did our brains become so powerful relative to our primate cousins? In Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human Richard Wrangham explores this topic through reason and by applying archaeological evidence.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Amidst the market carnage, I have sold one of my longest held securities, Gafisa. Following a successful proxy contest by a dissident shareholder, new management has taken a lot of steps to cut costs. As such, the stock has done well. Well enough that it's time I said goodbye.

Some business moats get built by accident. Fedex was no such accident. Its founder, Fred Smith, knew exactly what he was doing when he created the most reliable business in the world for overnight delivery. Roger Frock ran the numbers for Smith as a consultant before Fedex was launched, and then became one of the company's earliest executives, as he too saw the potential for this business. He writes about the company in his book Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx's Incredible Journey to Success The Inside Story

Friday, December 14, 2018

One of my favourite types of purchases is a stock that I've already owned and sold for a profit. A lot of brain damage is saved from the fact that I already know the company. This is the case with FreightCar America (RAIL), shares of which I have previously purchased and sold as discussed here and here.